Some celebrities wish to maintain their private struggles non-public, however some are open to sharing their experiences like Robert Downey Jr. and Bradley Cooper.
It’s no secret that Hollywood has a darkish aspect and past the movie units and recording studios, many stars battle with habit. Whereas some stars select to maintain their battles non-public, others have determined to be open about their journey with substance abuse within the hopes of serving to others. All through their careers, celebrities like Robert Downey Jr. and Whoopi Goldberg have all spoken out about their former habit to cocaine and the way they had been capable of overcome the challenges they confronted.
Discover out what these stars needed to say about drug habit…
Jax Taylor
Jax Taylor just lately revealed that he has spent many years scuffling with cocaine habit, brazenly admitting it for the primary time throughout an look on Bravo’s Scorching Mic podcast. Jax defined that he’d been “coping with this on and off” since he was 23 however has now been sober for nearly three months — the longest time frame in his life that he’s gone with out cocaine or alcohol.
“I’m an addict. I’ve substance points — primarily with cocaine. It’s laborious to say out loud. I’ve been coping with this on and off since I used to be 23 and now I’m 45,” Jax stated on the podcast. “There was occasions the place I’d cease doing it however then there have been occasions the place I’d go heavy on it.”
He continued, “I’ve by no means stated this in my life. So to return out and say that I’ve an habit [and] that I’ve a illness that I’ve to work on the remainder of my life is a very massive deal for me. Clearly, it’s an enormous weight lifted off my shoulders.”
Wendy Williams
Wendy Williams developed an habit to cocaine early in her profession, throughout her days working in radio. Regardless of her dependence on the drug, Wendy says she was a “functioning addict” and was capable of succeed at work, making a reputation for herself on New York and Philadelphia radio. She handled the habit for a decade earlier than assembly her ex-husband Kevin Hunter and making the choice to cease.
“I used to be a functioning addict. I report back to work on time, and I’d stroll in and all my co-workers, together with my bosses, would know however since I’d have my headphones on and stroll within the studio and [they] wouldn’t fireplace me as a result of I used to be making rankings,” Wendy informed Leisure Tonight. “A functioning addict has a number of alarm clocks, you’re organized. It’s a miracle I used to be capable of cease.”

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Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr. developed a drug habit within the late Eighties and struggled with it for years, throughout which he ended up spending time behind bars. In 1996, he was pulled over for rushing and ended up being arrested on costs of driving underneath the affect and for having heroin, cocaine, crack, and a gun in his automobile. After violating his parole after which lacking a court-ordered drug take a look at, he ended up being sentenced to a three-year stint on the California Substance Abuse Therapy Facility and State Jail.
“It was only a wild period,” Rober stated within the Netflix documentary Sr. “That complete world, it will get tied into creativity. We had been all altering our consciousness with substances. I used to be simply kinda taking part in a recreation of simply desirous to self-soothe or simply keep loaded slightly than cope with the truth that issues had gone off the tracks somewhat bit.”
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg admits that she struggled with drug habit whereas dwelling in New York and LA within the ’80s. She had beforehand gotten clear however stated she relapsed when she started attending movie star events the place there have been copious quantities of laborious medicine and no likelihood of getting caught.
“I used to be invited to events the place I used to be greeted on the door with a bowl of Quaaludes from which I might decide what I needed,” Whoopi wrote in her memoir Bits and Items: My Mom, My Brother, and Me. “Strains of cocaine had been laid throughout tables and loo counters for the taking.”
She continued utilizing closely for a few 12 months earlier than cocaine started to “kick [her] ass,” inflicting her to hallucinate. Her greatest wake-up name got here throughout a keep at a elaborate lodge in NYC, the place she bought caught doing coke within the closet of her lodge room by a housekeeper. After terrifying the housekeeper, she stop chilly turkey.

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Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin went via a interval in his life throughout which he was utilizing cocaine each single day after transferring from New York to Los Angeles. Wanting again on the time interval within the ’80s, Alec says cocaine “was like espresso” and everybody was doing it. Ultimately, he bought sober, giving up each ingesting and medicines on Feb. 23, 1985.
“I had a white-hot downside on daily basis for 2 years. I feel I snorted a line of cocaine from right here to Saturn,” he shared on the Our Method with Paul Anka and Skip Bronson podcast.
Steven Tyler
Steven Tyler has had a tumultuous journey with drug habit all through his life and has been to rehab at the very least 9 occasions. Wanting again, he says he simply spent $5 million on cocaine all through the ’70s and ’80s, a time when his band Aerosmith required venues to have an off-stage cubby the place they might do coke.
“I wanted blow. I wanted that cocaine. I wanted it,” he shared on Dateline in 2011, including that it practically ruined him. “It took my kids away, it took my marriages away. I used to be on my knees.”
He continued, “There’s three issues that occur to you once you’re hooked on medicine after they take maintain, is loss of life, jail and madness. And I can’t preach that sufficient. The one motive I wind up in rehab is as a result of I used to the purpose of falling down. My youngsters inform me, ‘Daddy, I don’t know who you might be anymore.’ Wives go away, bands break up, and it’s actually a one-way avenue. I nonetheless preferred the journey, however it’s a one-way avenue.”
Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato has beforehand opened up about scuffling with drug addiction as a teen and younger grownup, which in the end led to her near-fatal drug overdose. At one level, Demi says she couldn’t go an hour with out cocaine and needed to sneak the drug along with her at any time when she was. In 2018, she relapsed after a number of years of sobriety. She began experimenting with medicine she’d by no means tried earlier than and issues shortly escalated.
“I’d by no means achieved meth earlier than, I attempted meth. I blended it with Molly, with coke, weed, alcohol, oxycontin. And that alone ought to have killed me,” Demi shared in her Dancing With The Satan documentary.
Quickly after, Demi overdosed throughout which that they had three strokes that triggered mind injury, a coronary heart assault and a number of organ failure. She was even quickly legally blind. Even after such a harrowing expertise, they relapsed once more — after which checked herself into rehab for 2 months. She’s now been sober for years.

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Jack Black
When Jack Black was simply 14, he fell into drug habit whereas coping with the turmoil of his guardian’s divorce. He ended up getting concerned with the mistaken crowd at college, and shortly, he was hooked on cocaine. Amid his struggles, his mother and father enrolled him at a college for “troubled youth” within the Los Angeles space, the place he bought assist from a non-judgmental college therapist.
“I spilled my guts, telling him I felt responsible about stealing from my mother to get cash for cocaine,” he informed Parade. “I cried like a child. It was an enormous launch and an enormous reduction. I left feeling euphoric, like an unlimited weight had been lifted from me. It modified me.”
Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie handled drug habit as a teen, starting with cocaine. Reflecting on the state of affairs, she says it stemmed from boredom and wanting to search out one thing that may excite her. She turned to medicine and partying however ultimately determined to hunt therapy.
“I bought a lot so quick that nothing actually excited me anymore. I sort of took issues into my very own palms and was creating drama in a really harmful means. I feel I used to be simply bored, and I had seen every part — particularly once you’re younger, you simply need extra,” she shared on 20/20.
Sadly, after kicking her coke behavior, she turned to heroin and as soon as once more needed to enter rehab. She’s now been sober for a few years.
Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid handled an habit to cocaine for years, explaining that rising up within the ’60s and ’70s, “there was a totally totally different angle” about drug use. Wanting again, he says he ended up doing cocaine on a “day by day foundation” and whereas he struggled, he realized he might nonetheless operate at any time when he wanted to work. However amid his relationship with Meg Ryan, he had a imaginative and prescient of his future that triggered him to show his life round and examine into rehab.
“I had what I name a white-light expertise, the place I noticed myself both useless or dropping every part that meant something to me,” he stated throughout an interview with Megyn Kelly.
He went on, “That was the tip of the love affair for me with cocaine… I meditated for 2 years straight. I learn the Bible. I learn the Dhammapada. I learn the Bhagavad Gita. I learn the Quran. I simply began actually delving into the thriller as a result of that’s what habit is de facto about — it’s about attempting to replenish a gap inside your self.”

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Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper was hooked on cocaine in his 20s, earlier than he turned a serious star. He says that across the time he left Alias, he additionally severed his Achilles tendon and fell into drug use. Whereas struggling to search out extra work, he was additionally coping with vanity points and felt “nugatory.” Wanting again, he says it was his pal Will Arnett who ended up sitting him down and telling him that his actions had been hurting different individuals — and it modified his life.
“I used to be so misplaced, and I used to be hooked on cocaine,” Bradley stated on Will’s SmartLess podcast. “Will took that danger of getting that arduous dialog with me in, like, July of 2004 and that put me on a path of deciding to alter my life. It really was Will Arnett. He’s the explanation.”
Josh Peck
Josh Peck admits he turned hooked on alcohol and medicines, together with cocaine, as a teen. Reflecting on the time, Josh says it began whereas he was scuffling with weight points. Whereas he thought dropping 125 kilos would make every part in his life higher, he realized he was nonetheless coping with the identical psychological well being and vanity points. It wasn’t till he tried medicine at a celebration that he “felt free” for the primary time. It led him down a darkish path of habit, ultimately realizing he had traded his meals habit for medicine and alcohol.
“However ultimately I noticed that whether or not my life was past my wildest desires or a complete mess, it didn’t change the temperature of what was occurring in my thoughts,” he informed Folks. “I knew that nothing within the exterior world would make me really feel complete.”
Josh bought sober at age 21, sharing that he realized how a lot he was hurting his family members.

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Chet Hanks
Tom Hanks’ son Chet struggled with habit for a few years earlier than hitting all-time low and deciding to alter his life. Whereas on The Surreal Life, Chet appeared again on that second, which got here after a three-day coke binge in Las Vegas throughout which he “didn’t eat, sleep or barely drink any water.” He checked into rehab quickly after and has now been sober for over two years.
“After I bought to Vegas, I weighed 190 lbs. On the finish of it, I weighed 163. I misplaced 27 lbs in three days, so my illness is gnarly. It’s not fairly. I went straight from Vegas, checked myself into rehab… once more,” Chet shared on the present.
He continued, “Right here I’m, 31 years previous, broke, strung out, sucked up, simply skinny, simply at all-time low. I simply knew, man, if I don’t change my life in a drastic means, both I’m not even going to be round or one thing unhealthy, so unhealthy, goes to occur that my life would possibly as properly be over.”
AJ McLean
AJ McLean can pinpoint the precise second his drug habit battle started on the set of the Backstreet Boys music video for “The Name.” He tried coke in the course of the late evening shoot after which stored his rising habit a secret from the band for over a 12 months. He was ultimately satisfied to go to rehab however after the stint, he continued to make use of medicine on-and-off for the subsequent twenty years.
“I’d go to mattress when the solar was rising and I’d get up when the solar was down,” he informed Folks. “Like they are saying, the definition of madness, repeating the identical errors time and again anticipating totally different outcomes…I believed medicine and alcohol would make these emotions of insecurity go away. However it would not work that means.”
His eventual breaking level got here after his daughter observed he reeked of alcohol and informed him that he didn’t “scent like her daddy.” AJ then used his break day in the course of the pandemic to get sober.
In the event you or somebody you already know is scuffling with substance abuse, get assist. The Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration (SAMHSA) Nationwide Helpline (1-800-662-4357) supplies 24/7, free, confidential help for individuals in misery.